days in the life of a
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January 2012
click here to read older January 2012 posts....
January 21, 2012
SATURDAY SNAPSHOTS AND SNIPPETS
This is my new doctor's office.
Since Kim's new job with Activate Healthcare is traveling around Indiana and surrounding states convincing employers of the merits of having an on-site clinic for their employees and then selling them those clinics, he only thought it proper that he and I use those clinics for our own health care.
I was skeptical and a bit reluctant to jump on board, but when I found out that just by going for a physical I could earn a good chunk of money for our HSA AND that the clinic services are free to us, I made an appointment and went.
The clinic we're using is primarily for employees of an industrial equipment company in Indianapolis in a not-so-great part of town. On Fridays, this clinic is not open and Kim and his boss/partner Peter actually use this clinic as their office that day.
Anyway, I'm pleased to report that I had a very positive experience and a good check-up. I was given 4 health goals, and if I meet them in the next year I'll "earn" another nice sum of incentive money. Of course, the ultimate incentive is being healthier...but getting some cash is an added plus!
And I now have my very own Health Coach, who I actually had eaten dinner with a few days before at the Activate company party. (It's a very small company!) She and my new doctor spent lots of time with me and we even chit-chatted for awhile. When's the last time your doctor had time to chit-chat with you???
While I've always agreed with Kim that the clinic concept is great for OTHER people, I now agree that it's good for us too! Well done, Activate!!!
Got the cutest invitation this week.
Kaden (can you believe it?!) is turning 2 years old!
Kaden is crazy over any kinds of trucks, so he's having a truck-themed birthday party.
His mommy made these adorable invitations...when you dump the truck, the party details are inside.
Clever! The creativity of my family just continues to amaze me. I'm one proud crafty-mama!
Kim is outside right now pruning fruit trees.
He's starting on number 9 of The Big Nine, the oldest and biggest in the orchard. Of course, he's got about 40 other smaller trees to do as well.
Pruning is a huge job that Kim works on every weekend from January until about March, depending on the weather. I don't understand why, but he kind of enjoys it.
The man will always be a mystery to me...
All week long, my mind and heart has been in Florida with our close friends Brenda and Tim.
While they were wintering in Florida, Tim started having some serious problems and ended up having open-heart surgery this week. The latest is that, although he has a long road of recovery ahead, Tim is doing well considering all he's been through.
Peggy and I ALMOST hopped on a plane to Florida earlier this week, but eventually decided it wasn't necessary when their son headed down. All week I've regretted not being there with them during such a scary time.
Our merciful and powerful God is answering our fervent prayers for Tim's recovery!!!
Praise be to The Great Physician!
And Brenda and Tim, as soon as you can you need to get back home here where you belong! We all love and miss you!!!
Tim's health crisis gave us all such a scare, but also a very near-to-our-hearts reminder of how brief our time here on Earth really is. We aren't guaranteed a single year or day or even minute. At any time, God can choose to take us home to Him and the sun will set on our life down here.
Even believers like me are torn. We WANT to go to Heaven to live with God and look forward to Jesus's return, and yet in our deepest human-limited hearts we cling to what we know and the people we love. We're torn between Paradise and the comfort of the earthly life that we understand, torn between our Creator and our Loved Ones.
I think God understands and I know He loves us in spite of (perhaps even because of) that. So while I ought not fear what lies ahead, I will relish and savor the life God has given me here on Earth too.
And with those light ponderings for a Saturday morning, I'll sign off for now....
Have a blessed weekend!
January 23, 2012
PAM'S STORY
(revised from an email I received recently)A woman named Pam knows the pain of considering abortion.
More than 24 years ago, Pam and her husband Bob were serving as missionaries in the Philippines and praying for a fifth child. Pam contracted amoebic dysentery, an infection of the intestine caused by a parasite found in contaminated food or drink. She went into a coma and was treated with strong antibiotics before doctors discovered she was pregnant.
Doctors urged Pam to abort the baby for her own safety and told her that the medicines had caused irreversible damage to her unborn child. She refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her child would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted. Pam said the doctors didn't think of her baby as a life, they just thought of it as a mass of fetal tissue.
During her pregnancy, Pam nearly lost their baby four times but she refused to consider abortion. She recalled making a pledge to God with her husband: If you will give us a son, we'll name him Timothy and we'll make him a preacher.
Pam ultimately spend the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and eventually gave birth to a healthy baby boy August 14, 1987. Pam's youngest son is indeed a preacher. He preaches in prisons, makes hospital visits, and has served alongside his father doing missionary work in the Philippines.
Oh, yeah...and he also plays football.
Does he EVER play football!
Pam's son is Tim Tebow.
Even if you aren't a football fan, I'm sure you've heard of Tim Tebow. He's the most talked-about athlete in many years, not only for his football heroics but even more so for his outspoken faith. His current role as quarterback of the Denver Broncos has provided an incredible platform for his Christian witness.
Tim Tebow would not be here if his mother Pam had followed her doctors' advice and chosen abortion.
This weekend marked the 39th anniversary of the 1973 landmark US Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in this country, and it's impossible to even guess how many millions of unborn babies have lost their lives in those 39 years. So very, very sad. My heart breaks at the thought of all those precious lives, and for their mothers as well.
I know many who, for whatever their reasons, chose to have an abortion. I do not condemn them at all!!! They were young and scared and desperate, and they made the choice that our culture had convinced them would be an "easy fix." Thankfully, I was never in their shoes or I may have very well made the same choice.
But as a counselor at the Pregnancy Care Center, I've found out over the years by talking to women who've had abortions that it was not the "easy fix" that they expected. The emotional scars are there forever, and those aborted babies are never forgotten. I'm angry that our culture has perpetuated this lie to young girls, and many have been secretly harboring feelings of shame and guilt for decades. In the name of "women's rights," we have overstepped our human rights and tried to play God, and way-too-many unborn babies and their mothers have been the victims.
I try not to get all political-sounding on my blog, but in my mind this isn't about politics at all. This is about the precious gift of life that only God can create and no person has a right to destroy.
I know...there are extreme emotional circumstances that SEEM to justify abortion, but I also know and talk to women all the time who desperately want to be parents and haven't been able to conceive who would cherish that newborn whose mother isn't able to care for at this time in her young life.
I know...there are also extreme (and rare!) physical and medical circumstances that SEEM to justify abortion. Cases where the chances of having a normal, healthy baby are slim and the chances of having a less-than-perfect baby are enormous.
But let us never forget....God is the perfect Author of Life, the Writer of all of our stories.
...including Pam's....and her son Timothy's story too.
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January 24, 2012
"NOT TOO SOON, YOU BIG BABOON!"
It's become a fun little good-bye routine as Gramaw leaves their house.
I tell the Karter and Kaden, "See you later, alligator!"
They follow me down the hallway toward the door saying, "After while, crocodile,"...
...followed by, in their loudest, giggliest voices, "NOT TOO SOON, YOU BIG BABOON!!!"
To which Gramaw responds, "Did you just call me a big baboon???"
To which, in unison, they proudly say, "YES!" and await my very predictable response.
Of course, never one to disappoint my precious grandsons, I throw a little tizzy-fit and say, "I'm not a big baboon!" causing them to explode in giggles again.
And we go through that little routine a couple of more times, each time getting sillier and more emphatic, until I finally make my way to the back door.
As I leave, my last vision of them keeps me smiling all the way home.
And I can hardly believe that God loves me so much that He let me be their Gramaw!!!
January 25, 2012
HOMER AND HETTIE
I know I've posted this old family photo (circa 1919) before, but when my cousin asked me to email it to her I couldn't help but post it again.
These are my great-grandparents, Homer and Hettie, and eight of their children (more were born later. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure Hettie is pregnant in this photo...), who lived in North Carolina.
I love this photo for a lot of reasons. I can't even imagine what a chore it was for Hettie to get all those children cleaned up, their hair fixed, clothes washed and ironed, and lined up for a family picture.
No wonder she looks a little tired and grumpy...
And Homer, much like my husband would be, doesn't look all that thrilled having to get spiffed up and posed himself.
A photo like this is not to be taken for granted. At all. Anyone who's ever raised a family and/or photographed children can attest to that.
But the main reason I love this photo is because of my grandma in it.
My grandma, Hazel, is the little girl who is barefoot.
She must have been about 4 when this picture was taken. Grandma was always a little embarrassed by this photo because she was the only one without any shoes. As I remember them telling it, Hazel had somehow hurt her foot and it was too sore to put on shoes.
I think that just makes the photo even more endearing.
And I also love the fact that in this picture Grandma looks very much like my youngest sister Maria did when she was little.
Can you see the resemblance??? (We'll discuss the goofiness of the oldest sister at a later time...)
Maria was 5 in both of these photos and I think she's the spitting image of my Grandma Hazel at that age.
It's always fun for me to look at old photos and imagine the story behind those smiles.
Or lack of them, as in this picture...
...of Homer and Hettie.
